I believe we’re already past the point where one should wonder whether one of the leading synthwave artists would be well received by a crowd on a metal festival. Anyone being to Carpenter Brut gigs before must have noticed that there is massive overlap between the fans of these two seemingly different musical styles that still bear many similarities. In fact, Tuska is known to keep up well with the times and had already in the Spring arranged a club gig in Helsinki with Gost (SWE) from the same genre.

Carpenter Brut’s live show relies heavily on well thought out visuals projected on a screen behind the band, and you could say that the trio (drums, keys & guitar) is there to perform the soundtrack for what’s happening on the screen. Seeing Carpenter Brut live is a bit of an unorthodox experience; with no frontman present making contact with the audience, you almost feel like you’re listening to the tracks *with* the band rather than have the band performing to you. And there’s really nothing wrong with that.

Unfortunately at an open-air festival like Tuska, even inside the tent stage, it was hard to make out what’s happening on the screen behind the band due to too much light, which definitely took off the best edge from the performance.

Still, the crowd was really into the French trio’s show and at times even a small moshpit erupted. As a nice surprise, Mat McNerney (Hexvessel) joined the band midset for “Beware the Beast”, unlike on the band’s club gig in Helsinki in March where the vocals came from a backing track.

The set ended with the good old “Maniac” from 1983’s Flashdance, but the singalong from the crowd would have certainly been louder if the screen projecting the lyrics had been more visible. Hopefully in the coming years, Carpenter Brut will return to Tuska again, but this time with a late night slot and one longer than just 45 minutes.